Н‘¾Ð‘¯Ð‘¬Ð‘Μ Ð‘»Ð‘¯Ð‘¬ Н‘¾Ð‘°Ð‘Μ𝑫 Н‘©Ð‘³Ð‘¶Ð‘¾Ð‘º €¢Ð’Ƒ𝒙Н’Ƒ• Sometimes we lose

After Hinata was taken, the arena was being cleaned from all the blood. Naruto was leaned on the rails, awaiting the next match. Akashi was right next to him. “Who do you think will fight next?” Akashi turned to the side and a thoughtful expression took place on his face. “Who knows…”. He trailed off and looked away and at the other remaining competitors.

He swept his gaze over every single one of them, but then froze as he met eyes with the ones across the arena. The team from Sand was looking right at him. The blonde girl whispered to the boy with the purple markings. He snickered and shook his head at her words. Their fun was short lived when the redhead between them said something. The two of them stopped their chatter and nodded.

Akashi furrowed his brows at the scene. “What…?” He tilted his head and his eyes widened as the redhead glared at him. His teal colored eyes were filled with uncontrollable bloodlust. Akashi broke their eye contact and hurriedly looked to the side, completely evading everyone’s eyes, including Naruto’s. “What’s wrong?” Naruto squinted at him and he shook his head, smiling in return. “Nothing, don’t worry”.

An approaching Chakra signal alerted him of someone. The person turned out to be the boy with the markings on his face. He stopped in front of the twins and curled his lips up in a smirk. “Yes? Is there something you want?” Akashi bit out at him, a sneer finding its way on his face. The boy in question laughed and shook his head. “Why are you so defensive, it’s not like I’m going to eat you”. The glint in his eyes told Akashi otherwise.

The unfamiliar boy’s eyes slid over next to him and stopped at Naruto. Clenching his fists, Akashi swiftly moved closer to his brother and blocked him from view. The mark-boy let out a snort and took a slow step forward, as if he was testing something. Narrowing his eyes, Akashi takes a step back and gently pushes Naruto back. “Hey, hey, what are you doing?” Naruto argued and tried to push past him.

“Stay put”. When Naruto continued struggling, Akashi let out a sigh. “Please…?” Naruto frowned and crossed his arms, looking to the side. “Fine!” He pouted, displeasure clear on his face. Akashi brought his attention back to the boy in front, and bit the inside of his cheek when he noticed the amused look on his face. “Is something funny?” He asked, hostility radiating from him in waves.

“What’s your name?” The boy ignored him and leaned on the wall. “Is that necessary?” He was ignored once more. “Just answer the question”. Mark-boy crossed his arms. Seeing that he wouldn’t get through to him, Akashi decided to answer. “Uzumaki Akashi… you?” Even if he didn’t really want to know his name, he asked it out of politeness. The boy shifted on his feet and mockingly bowed to him. “Kankuro, at your service”.

“Your services are unneeded”. Kankuro raised his eyebrows in amusement at his words. “My, my, you hurt my feelings”. Choosing to ignore the words the boy just said, Akashi repeated the first question he asked him. “Is there something you want?” Kankuro shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know… is there?” He threw a grin his way, as if to further annoy him. Akashi felt himself grow more and more irritated.

“You came here for a reason, what is it? Scouting out possible opponents?” He asked and the grin slipped from Kankuro’s face. A moment passed and then he laughed. “Aren’t you awfully perceptive… for a little brat”. There it was, his real face. “I pride myself in that part of me… aren’t you also a brat?” Kankuro narrowed his eyes, the relaxed expression from earlier was completely wiped from his face.

“The guy that fought in the previous match, his name is Hyuuga Neji, correct?” Akashi side-glanced at Neji, who was standing with his team. He turned back to Kankuro and nodded. “From the looks of it, it seems he hasn’t used all of his powers”. Well, Akashi couldn’t deny that. It did seem like Neji was holding back, as mean as that sounds. He almost killed Hinata, but if he really wanted to do it, he would have done it earlier.

“You are probably right”. He found himself answering. He felt Naruto shift from beside him. “So, what kind of guy is he?” Kankuro asked, and a moment later, Naruto struck a pose next to them. “He’s the kind of guy I beat!” Kankuro looked unimpressed. “I didn’t ask you and I didn’t ask that”. Naruto didn’t move from his spot. “You two are interesting guys, I like you”. Akashi grimaced at his words.

“You’re not interesting, I don’t like you”. Akashi snorted and brought a hand over his lips. Kankuro took a couple of steps closer and glared at Naruto, while Naruto squinted his eyes at him. Akashi noticed the hostile aura radiating from Kankuro and he grabbed Naruto by the wrist, pulling him back. “You’re too close, back off!” He hissed at the momentarily surprised Kankuro.

Before he could retaliate, someone loudly cleared their throat, asking for attention. Everyone looked at the middle of the arena. Hayate was standing there. “We will now resume the matches”. Akashi looked at the board as it started shifting through the names. The board stopped and two names appeared. ‘Gaara vs Rock Lee’ was what was written. A Chakra spike made Akashi look at the arena. A swirl of sand was shifting in the middle, before a figure was seen.

Gaara. His teal eyes snapped towards Lee. “Hurry up and come down”. He commanded. A minute or so after, Lee jumped down. He went into his stance and pointed a hand towards Gaara. “I don’t know what kind of moves that guy bobbed hair guy uses, but he can’t beat Gaara”. Akashi curiously looked back at Kankuro. Lee was strong, strong enough to beat Sasuke without a sweat.

“Really? What makes you say that?” Kankuro tilts his head. “Gaara is unbeatable, that’s all you need to know”. Without another word, he leaned on the rails and watched the match. Akashi’s attention was brought back to the battle when Lee swiped his fist in front of himself. He opened his palm and dropped something on the ground.

“Begin”. Hayate said and brought his hand down. Lee charged at Gaara the moment the words left Hayate’s mouth. He jumped and went for a kick to the face, but before it could connect, a wave of sand stopped his leg. The sand whirled around Gaara and descended upon Lee. He dodged out out of the way, spinning backwards and the sand slowly receded back to Gaara.

It went back inside the gourd he was carrying on his back. “Sand…?” That was highly unusual. Who uses sand to fight? And with such mastery, too? Lee dashed again and went with kicks again, but it was no use, either the sand blocked him, or he had to dodge it. He whipped out a kunai and started slashing at the sand, making it dissolve, but quickly attack him again.

He jumped in the air and threw shuriken at Gaara, who wasn’t even looking at him, but the sand blocked them again. “He’s not even looking at him…”. Akashi, unconsciously, gripped the rails under his fingers. “Lee…”. He grit his teeth and prayed that Lee wasn’t going to get hurt. “It’s no use, regardless of Gaara’s will, the sand will protect him”. Both Akashi and Naruto turned to Kankuro.

“That’s why no one has ever… hurt Gaara”. A dark look flashed across his face and a shiver ran down Akashi’s spine. This time, it wasn’t Lee who initiated the fight, it was Gaara. The sand flashed across the ground, towards Lee. He jumped up, intending to dodge it, but it grabbed him by the ankle and swung him around. He was harshly thrown at a wall, his body painfully slamming against it.

He slid down and immediately had to roll to the side, barely evading the sand. He continued his close combat assault on Gaara, but, as usual, nothing worked. He spun backwards, but he slipped on the sand, which made him fall down. “Lee…!” Akashi exclaimed when the sand started descending upon him. A wave of relief filled him when he saw he jumped back atop the statue hands.

He had a short conversation with Guy about ‘taking something off’. Lee excitedly took off his leg warmers and untied the weights that were there. “Weights? Did he have them on the whole time?” Akashi could hardly believe it. To be so fast with weights on was simply unbelievable. “I see!” Naruto exclaimed, even more excited than Lee. “How stupid”. Kankuro scoffed, clearly unimpressed.

When Lee dropped the weights, Akashi almost fell down in surprise when they landed. The ground crumbled under the weight of the weights and the arena shook with the force of its landing. “What the actual hell?!” Akashi exclaimed, not believing his eyes. That was too much! “Go, Lee!” Guy yelled and Lee jumped from the statue. He disappeared in the air and reappeared behind Gaara.

Akashi’s eyes widened as he watched Lee’s movements. He almost couldn’t see him… almost. He started darting around Gaara, the sand barely blocking his hits and kicks. After a few moments, he jumped up and drop-kicked Gaara. The redhead’s head whipped down from the force of the hit. He raised his head and a cut was on his cheek. Lee slid back and smirked when he saw that his hit landed.

Akashi sneaked a glance at Kankuro. The latter’s mouth was opened up in surprise. Akashi looked across the arena at the rest of Gaara’s team. They mirrored Kankuro’s expression. Akashi brought his attention back to the match. Was it really that hard to hurt Gaara? Did he really never get injured? What is going on? Lee dashed back and darted around, until he landed a hit on Gaara’s cheek.

He was thrown away by the sheer force of the punch. Really, seeing Lee be so strong made Akashi kind of mad. He was also selfless, he remembered the second exam, when he single handedly protected them with his life. Akashi yearned to be someone like that. To protect the people around him, but most of all… He looked to the side, where Naruto was. His little brother had an excited grin on his face, so immersed with the fight in front of him.

He wanted to be strong for Naruto, because, if he wasn’t, who would take care of him?

Gaara slowly started standing up, the sand was steadily slipping out of the gourd and pooling at his feet. “This isn’t good”. Kankuro whispered. Naruto turned to him. “Yeah, for the black-eyed guy!” Kankuro huffed and shook his head. “That’s not what I meant”. Akashi furrowed his brows in confusion and looked back at Gaara. He was hunched over, and his face… it seemed to be crumbling.

“What…?” He gasped when he saw the murderous look in Gaara’s face. His skin was turning into chunks of sand and falling off, shattering on the ground. The new sand was absorbed into his skin, and he appeared to be without a scratch. “That’s the armor of sand”. Kankuro said. “He has the shield and the armor, if by some chance, the shield is bypassed, the armor will protect him”. Akashi almost scoffed at his words.

That was too much, he couldn’t even be harmed. “That is his absolute defense”. Akashi couldn’t agree more.

Lee loosened the bandages around his arms and a thought immediately entered Akashi’s mind. He was going to use it, the attack he used in the second exam and the one he was going to use against Sasuke. Gripping the rails even tighter, he could almost feel them bend under his grasp. Lee dashed forward and started circling Gaara, creating a trail of dust around him.

Lee appeared beneath Gaara and hit him with his foot, making him fly upwards. But it wasn’t far enough for the technique. Wanting to fix that, Lee went back down and bounced himself off with his arms, hitting Gaara repeatedly, making him fly up far enough. Akashi’s eyes widened when he saw Lee wince. What? Is the technique too hard? Did he get hit before?

The bandages start wrapping around Gaara and once they are tightly secured around him, Lee warps his arms around him. They start spinning in an abnormal speed and a moment later, Gaara is slammed into the ground, breaking it. Lee jumped a safe distance away. The dust cleared and Gaara was seen lying in the middle of the cracks, the sand atop his skin crumbling away.

“No way, this can’t be…”. Kankuro whispered from beside Naruto and Akashi. Sighing out in relief, Akashi lowered his head on his hands which were on the rails. “He won…”. He whispered, a small smile creeping to his face. A confused gasp brought him out of his relaxed state. Confused, he looked at the arena and grit his teeth at the sight. ‘Gaara’ was completely crumbled, not leaving anything in the crack on the ground. Which meant…

The real Gaara appeared, behind the crouching Lee, out of a pool of sand. A cold feeling washed all over Akashi’s body. He shakily took a step back, away from the rails. The Chakra inside Gaara was different. Different than before… almost…

Familiar, right? The fox inside him spoke up, its gravelly voice striking a cord deep within him. Why does it feel like your Chakra? Akashi carefully asked. He didn’t really want to speak to the fox, but he wanted to know, no, he needed to know. So now you wish to speak with me? It sneered at him, and he could practically see its mouth curl up, revealing fangs sharp enough to rip through bone. I want to know why it feels like your Chakra.

The fox hummed, the noise it made almost made Akashi want to rip his own ears out. The hairs on his arms stood up as cold sweat started to pool at the back of his neck. That boy… he carries the same kind of beast as you do. Akashi’s eyes widen and they snap towards Gaara. He was throwing Lee around the arena. Do you mean…? It gave no further explanation other than that.

Akashi couldn’t help but despise those beings a little more.

The sand continued its onslaughter on Lee, not giving him enough time to fight back. All that he could do was dodge… and he was barely doing even that. He stood still, and all of a sudden his movements changed once the sand attacked again. He straightened up and a smile appeared on his face. Akashi wondered how he could smile in a situation like this. Even when he was so close to losing, he was smiling.

“Lee… you’re so strong…”. He whispered and his admiration for the older boy grew a little bit more. A sudden feeling washed over his body and he focused his senses. The Chakra inside Lee’s body started spiraling out of control. The ground under his feet started cracking and the air around him grew dense and Chakra whirled around him. He bent his knees and lowered his center of gravity.

He pushed off the ground and it broke under the pressure. He appeared in front of Gaara so fast that Akashi couldn’t even follow him with his eyes. The shock wave of the dash made dust fly everywhere, temporarily making everyone unable to see the fight. The dust cleared but they were nowhere in sight. Akashi quickly looked up and saw that Gaara was in the air.

Lee appeared in front of Gaara and hit him towards the ground, he then appeared under him and hit him upwards again. He continued this, hitting him from all sides, keeping him suspended in the air. Gaara was then hit to the ground, but Lee had a bandage wrapped around him which prevented him from falling, he pulled him up and hit him again, making him fly towards the ground.

He would have hit the ground and probably lost, but the gourd on his back turned into sand, shielding his fall. The Chakra around Lee disappeared and it returned to normal. Maybe he could have won, but it was no use thinking about that now. Lying in the sand around him, Gaara extended his hand and the sand obeyed his command. It slithered towards Lee, who was dragging his legs on the ground, trying to get away.

It slowly wrapped around his left leg and left arm, and Akashi couldn’t look anymore. His eyes slowly fluttered closed, wanting to avoid the sight which was surely going to cause him nightmares. There was a Chakra spike and a distinctive ‘crunch’ echoed through the arena. Lee’s painful yell made Akashi visibly flinch. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the unconscious Lee on the ground.

The sand was advancing towards him and Akashi knew Lee was about to die. Before it could completely cover him, Guy shielded Lee and the sand disappeared from around them. An unusually serious look was present on Guy’s face. Akashi bit his lip as he observed Gaara’s actions. He let out a groan and grabbed his head. He exchanged a few words with Guy that Akashi was not able to hear.

After that, he slowly stood up and walked away, the gourd on his back was being reconstructed by the sand. Hayate raised his hand, about to pronounce the winner, when everyone gasped and looked behind Guy. Lee was standing up, his whole body shaking and blood dripping down his crushed arm and leg. Guy slowly approached him and then he froze, tears slipping down his cheeks.

It was then that Akashi realized, Lee was unconscious, but by the power of his sheer will, he was able to stand up. A worried expression took place on his face and without thinking, he slipped over the rails and onto the arena. “Akashi!” He heard Kakashi call after him, but he ignored him. He ran up to Guy and Lee. “Can I… heal him a little?” Guy slowly nodded and grabbed Lee, crouching down.

Akashi lowered himself to their level and moved Lee’s bangs to the side. “Lee, you’re amazing…”. He mumbled out as Lee closed his eyes. The familiar glow appeared on his hands and the various scratches disappeared. The leg and arm took a little more Chakra, but he made the bleeding stop. Unbeknownst to him, Guy was watching him with a small sad smile.

Seeing the look on Lee’s face, Akashi couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He tried to win, he tried so hard to win, but it wasn’t meant to be. He was as brave and as strong as someone could be in a situation like this. He did the best he could, and it was enough. Akashi only hoped he could be at least half as brave and strong as Lee was, to unconditionally protect everything and everyone in his life, to be known as…

He bit his lip, teeth close to ripping through the tender skin. He wanted to be known as someone who helped save lives, to be known as a ‘Hero’.

Noticing Lee’s breathing had slowed down to a normal rate, he almost believed he could become what his childish self thought of…

Almost…